Notre Dame Football: Five Players We Missed Playing in College Football Video Game

As we near the release of EA Sports' College Football video game, a look at five Notre Dame stars we would have loved to played the game as.

Sep 5, 2021; Tallahassee, Florida, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish saftey Kyle Hamilton (14) intercepts a pass past Florida State Seminoles running back Jashaun Corbin (0) during the second quarter at Doak S. Campbell Stadium. / Melina Myers-USA TODAY Sports

The feel of college football is fully in the air as we are just days from kickoff on the new season.

OK, by new season I actually mean the first release of an EA Sports College Football video game in a decade, but you get the point.

It's been since NCAA Football '14, a game released in July of 2013, that the video game has been produced. That means there have been a lot of great college football players that have come and gone that were never part of the game.

So which Notre Dame players in that timeframe would have been the best to get to play as?

That doesn't always mean the highest rated, although there were some in blue and gold over the years that certainly would have challenged for rankings in the mid and high-90s.

Here are the five Notre Dame players from 2014-2023 that I would have most liked to have played as in the NCAA Football video game series.

Honorable Mentions: Jaylon Smith (Linebacker), Josh Adams (Running Back)

The craziest part of playing a video game with Jaylon Smith as your player would be that I would bet on you being able to use him better than defensive coordinator Brian Van Gorder did at Notre Dame and I'd be right more often than not. The speedy Josh Adams running behind the likes of Quenton Nelson and Mike McGlinchey in video game mode would be like cheating, too.

5. Will Fuller, Wide Receiver

Speed kills in real football but it especially kills in football video games. No Notre Dame wide receiver in this time frame would have been as enjoyable to play in the video game as Fuller would have been. Heck, with the way the game has traditionally worked you get real creative and have him returning punts and kickoffs, too.

4. Kyren Williams, Running Back

Kyren Williams didn't have the speed to run away from guys like Fuller above or other Notre Dame running backs in that time. That said, his speed wasn't bad, either. It's just that no Notre Dame running back kept balance anywhere near as well as Williams did in that time and that'd make him a real pain to try and tackle in the video game, just like he was in real life. For gamers, think how annoying it was when Emmitt Smith would seemingly fall ahead for an extra three yards every carry back in the early Madden games - and apply that to Williams at Notre Dame.

3. Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, Linebacker

I assume that the popular "hit stick" will again be a part of the college football video game and perhaps no player in college football over the last decade would have benefited from such a thing more than Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah. Owusu-Koramoah forced five fumbles over his final two seasons at Notre Dame. Something tells me playing a season with him on your roster would result in a significant amount more than that.

2. Kyle Hamilton, Safety

There are certain players that feel like they are just a cheat code in video games. In the Madden franchise it would be Ravens great Ed Reed that would seemingly come from nowhere to ruin your day by intercepting a pass or two that you thought was headed to a wide open receiver. Funny enough it's a current Ravens safety that would have provided this as well as any safety in the college game over the past 10 years.

1. Ian Book, Quarterback

Was Ian Book the best Notre Dame quarterback in this time? Based on NFL draft stock, some would say it was DeShone Kizer. Ian Book quarterbacking an offense in a college video game would be a mix of Michael Vick in Madden 2004 and trying to swat a gnat at a picnic table. Sure, Book didn't have the arm strength that Vick did in the game, but his ability to scramble and break free when he was seemingly wrapped up for a loss would make more than a couple of online opponents rage quit.